Wednesday, July 21, 2010

4.5 Sectionals: A quick look

Here's a quick look at 4.5 Sectionals, assuming all rosters stay as is and that all the heavyweights make the trip:

Flight 1 TeamsAustinNETXWild San AntonioFt. Worth

To me, the Austin league was not as strong at the top this year as in past years, though it was extremely deep. Anthony Tatu has become one of the premier captains in the state, annually producing competitive teams. His team this year doesn't seem to have the overwhelming singles strength necessary. In his biggest match this year, he used Caskey and Acosta, but expect Atherton to get a lot of action in Dallas. Bucco and Tatu will probably man one doubles spot, and Chris McDaniel and longtime Austin fixture Alan Williams have been untouchable thus far this year. Still, this team doesn't seem to have the strength to dominate and will have to squeak out its victories.

Alann Torres' San Antonio squad has got to be considered the favorite in this flight. Estevan San Miguel is a quality singles player. Sundy Muniz and Stephan Poole have dominated the 4.5 tournament doubles circuit. Daniel Cambon has a really nice game and he and Matt Mungia will be tough to beat. Who plays #2 singles for them? Spencer Read has played in their big matches. Chance Morgan is eligible. Jonathan Hartwell plays Open tournaments but I know nothing about him. Torres, Vasquez and Galvan will all see action as well.

I don't know much/anything about the Fort Worth team this year. I notice that they have a really solid singles player in David Rascoe (he handled Sectionals regular Rob Hurley rather routinely). Adam Mackie has also been solid in singles for them. John Singleton splits time between 5.0 and 4.5, usually playing line 1 doubles and almost always winning. Ditto Jason Moore. George Rodriguez is a tall guy with a pretty nice game who beat me pretty routinely in the Combo a few years ago, but that's about all the first hand knowledge I have of this team. Perhaps someone can chime in with some more info.

Chris Leach brings his Tyler team back to Dallas for its annual trip. Unfortunately, I don't see them having much/any chance to do any damage this year.

Flight 2 TeamsHoustonLubbockWacoWild Austin

Regular readers and locals know all about the Titans. It's certainly not the most talented team Ken Douds has ever had. Antoine Ford will have to continue his hot streak. Simon Jim is a solid number 2. John Day must revert to his regular season form for this team to do well, and Douds, Marco and the rest must ride their hot streak.

Lubbock has just 9 bodies on their roster. Mel McRee, who led his 4.0 team to Nationals in '08, will try to draw on his Sectionals experience. Wilson Wicks also has Nationals experience, at the 4.5 level, where he went 4-0 with Mike Davis' Austin Wild squad in 2007. Michael Hastings is a self-rate who's been playing singles.

Waco doesn't appear to be very strong. They have a bunch of bump-ups from some of Bill Sanders high quality 4.0 team. James Westbrook was really tough in 4.0 singles, but will struggle in the upper division. Luedtke and Rivera will be a tough doubles line, and both are capable of playing singles. Waco added two late imports from Dallas in Jean Nguyen (another guy I lost to in the combo a few years ago...I sense a pattern developing) and Johan Mudsam, both of whom were high level 4.0 players in the last couple of years.

Aptly named Austin Wild fills out the flight. Most of you know of the losses captain Davis has suffered due to disqualification this year, but his roster was deep enough to remain a factor. I would probably still rate his team the favorite in this bracket. He's got a bunch of guys with Sectionals and/or Nationals experience on this team. Tim Klitch is among the best doubles guys at 4.5. Former Houstonian Kevin Lemke is a talented singles guy if he's been playing regularly. Joshua Torrez may be the key...last year he had an up and down season but rounded into form at Sectionals with big singles wins over Hilderbrand and David B. Scott Sevin will also see some singles action. Fred Schlotterback and Patrick Seidensticker have had a lot of Sectionals success in the past as well.

Flight 3 TeamsDallasWild HoustonAbileneSETX

Rusty Branch has a juggernaut this year. He was not even remotely tested in Dallas. Rusty is on the sidelines this season, but the cupboard is far from bare. 5.0 drop down Mike Kelly (he's been playing league at LEAST since '97) will be tough to beat in singles or doubles. Eugene Davis hasn't missed a beat since moving up from 4.0, dominating over the last two years. Brandon Underwood was a top-flight junior and looks impressive in his youtube videos. Dustin Viktorin can play some singles. The names go on and on: Slezak/Williams, Kiron/Huffman, Cole Frink, Rafael Ledezma (another Kelly-like 5.0 bumpdown) There are several quality players I haven't even named. Luckily for other teams, they don't give extra points for depth.

Obviously, Freeman's Hurricane II squad will have its hands full with Dallas. Sarosh Ahmed and Robert Plummer will be truly tested up there. Regent/Li have tons of Sectionals experience, and the rest of the team has had success up there, but mostly at the 4.0 level. Second place in the flight is doable, however.

Abilene is always a team to keep your eye on. Trance Rosenquist and Adam Cherry are quality holdovers from past teams. Kurt Wasmer was 2-0 in doubles at Sectionals last year, as was Brian Rainwater. Erich Bein is an intriguing add...went to state with Abilene High and is listed as a 3 star recruit on tennisrecruiting.net. Lost to local junior stud Jose Martinez (who is very impressive to watch) by a 5 and 4 score. Has a win over Robin Chou, who was a cause celebre on the Austin blog earlier this year. I haven't checked his junior ranking to see if he's truly eligible as I'm just going through the rosters right now.

The Southeast Texas team will be a non-factor.

Flight 4 TeamsAmarilloNOHOValleySan Antonio

This group has been much-discussed already.

Amarillo has a few nice players, but is stuck in the wrong group. George Jennings was solid in singles at Sectionals last year, beating Brent James and losing only to Hasker. Shannon Burdett has been on a team that went to Nationals, but that was in the last century. He's still capable, however. Luis Zavala was 3-0 at Sectionals last year in doubles.

The NOHO team is comprised of most of the Houston area 4.5 heavy hitters. Benzon and Freeman have assembled some talented players, headed by mystery superstar Greg Dwyer. Okay, that was a joke. Seriously, as a member of the team and co-captain I'm not gonna' analyze this team...y'all know who's who already.

The Valley has an intriguing roster and is not a team that should be taken lightly. Frank Vos has an almost spotless record going back to 2004. I believe he may have lost only one match in that period of time, but has not been truly tested at Texas Sectionals. (he did go to Sectionals in Oregon I believe) Kareem Abdullah played a season here in Houston and by the end of the year was playing extremely high level tennis. I believe he played collegiately at UT-Pan Am if memory serves. Ivan Leal has at least been a finalist in the 4.5 division of the Coke (can't remember if he's won it) and has been a quality player for quite some time. Crisanto Ramirez plays/played for Division III power Trinity. I think Derek Sandoval played Juco tennis.

As has been mentioned before, Mike Miller's San Antonio team has a wealth of talent. Glenn Barton may be in the Ward Jannuzzi age bracket, but he's still extremely dangerous and I would expect he'll play singles in the big matches and get rested when possible. As someone mentioned, there are seven teaching pros on this team, so there's not going to be a weak spot in the lineup. Eric White, Mark Hilderbrand and John Trautmann can all play singles as well. As can Alejandro Sanchez. Ewing, Anderson, Miller, Arringdale and several others could be in the lineup at any time. This is another really deep team with a ton of options. Also, there's not a self-rate in the bunch, which is nice to see in this day and age.

261 comments:

2-3 players look like ProtestsEric Bein is a clear cut grievance waiting, he has signed with ACU, a Top D2 school and should be 5.5. See Clayton Morgan and Sahal Taweel, and where Trent Broach should have been, if he played league anywhere but Houston. Also he is no different than Luke Trautman who moved to 5.5 after signing with Incarnate Word

Kareem Abdullah played D1 at UTPA and is under 30 = 5.5 or 5.0 minimum, but again David Wanja was allowed to play while playing at Lamar.

Crisanto Ramirez is borderline having played at D3 power Trinity in 2009, probably should be a 5.0.

Torress must have his Fall Team at Sectionals. His Spring team is the one with San Miguels and Morgan. They will not be there and if they are those will be DQ's.That is straight from our league coordinator. As for his fall team be ready for Cambon to play singles. Regardless they have zero depth. Make them play a couple tough matches and they will be toast.

Miller has already protested all the Houston guys. We are just waiting for a response back. If Miller really thinks that he has a shot at winning this year then it will be settled on the court with his 7 teaching pro roster. All miller does is bitch and moan about players. How many times has Miller been to Nationals?

Miller is within his right to protest all the players he wants. Whatever will help him in advancing to a Sectionals title is what he's gonna do. I've heard him rant on an on this year about how he wants to beat Houston sooo bad. Well Mr Miller this is your year to shine.

Yes, last year's Houston National team was "loaded" up with self-rates, if you call 1 being loaded up. Miller just brings the same group of teaching pros to sectionals each year, but still can't get it done.

And NOHO doesn't bring their teaching pros and college players? This blog is a little bias with Greg being co-captain of the NOHO team. Wasn't Greg the captain when he brought someone in not on the roster to play for someone else?

3:45 brings up a good point and a legitimate protest for Miller to post against NOHO. NoHo has Vernon from Nederland, Mills from Hamshire, and Kern from Ft Worth. They have too many players outside the 50 mile limit. And I'm not sure they are allowed to have more than 1 player. I'm not sure they wouldn't be considered in the same group as Houston as far as how many players they can draw from outside of 50 miles. I believe NoHo and Ft Worth are both in this category being attached to major metros.

Not sure that having Kern,Mills and Vernon can help NOHO to beat San Antonio,Dallas or Austin. Although, it gives Miller one more thing to protest so why not. I still don't understand how you can have 7 teaching pros on one roster. San Antonio will be giving a lot of clinics in Dallas next weekend, for anyone interested .

And Freeman and Benzon are not stupid, I'm sure they have measured the distance for the various players and have only what they are allowed to have. They both likely drove the distance themselves in order to not have someone protested. Haven't you guys figured out yet they WILL NOT put anyone on their roster that will be protested with a possible DQ. DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Haha I've never seen so much whining off the court before. Almost all the accusations you see on the blog are pure fiction. Only one thing is for certain and that is to win at sectionals you have to take in all the negative comments that comes with a winning team. No matter which team wins this year they'll have a few guys out of level.

Thanks for the nice words. I would agree that San Antonio is the favorite in our group, but Fort Worth will give them a fight, I'm sure. My team is pretty much all average 4.5 players, no DeKruyff or Valdez on the roster this year. I do think the Austin Wild team has a good shot to make it to Sunday, but in the end I have to go with Branch's team to take it all.

Both SA singles guys will lose to Thomas and Gururaj regardless of which order they play. So, that's 2-0 right there.

Several of the guys that played on the Houston national team last year are on NOHO- Dibua, Sumrall, Burrman and SA got swept by them in doubles. Also Mills/Vernan beat Arringdale/Ewing at sectionals last year if I remember. Will have to look that up but I think it happened. So I see no reason that NOHO would not get 2 doubles lines as well.

Anthony:The SA Team will not be as strong as you might expect as they must use the players from the Fall Team and not Spring which should help you guys.

I predict: Austin, WC Austin, Dallas, and SA.Group 4 is tough because the Valley is also a sleeper looking at some of their players, so they could surprise both NOHO and SA if the winds of fate are blowing. Also could see Abilene being the sleeper much like Waco was 2 years ago, but only if all their players survive any protests.

This is all great stuff. First of all in response to all the posts about Millers Teams losing through the years we have no excuse. We just got beat. Last years Houston Team was very solid. Sounds like this year they are better. On the bright side we are stronger as well. Looking forward to it. Sounds like we are going to lose 4-1 though...bummer. As for Miller and his protests. I think it's great he does it. Someone has to regulate this stuff or it gets out of control. All I can say about Miller is he is a good guy and all of us are happy to play for him. Best of luck to all of you at Sectionals.

Hildebrand is a good guy and a great competitor. Watching him play last year in the semis and finals was a tribute to how mentally tough he is. Team Miller has the most talent by far of any team and they're hungry to win. Noho will have their hands full and I wouldn't be surprised if it was a 3-2 victory either way.

I have played Dixon before. I'm just trying to get a feel for what we are looking at. I can tell you 3 years ago when I played David B. he was stronger than Dixon. Atleast in that match he was. Whatever I don't care I keep hearing how good they are. Just trying to gauge how good.

Dickson would not be higher than a 5.0. He doesn't even play singles anymore. He's a really good doubles player. Noho's singles players are about the same level as a Glenn Barton and Eric White. I don't care what anyone says, If Miller uses Barton and White, NO ONE Will be able to sweep the singles from them. Both Barton and White are easily 5.0 material. I wonder why San Antonio doesn't have a 5.0 team this year? Maybe because they're all on Miller's 4.5 roster.

I have been an opposing Sectional captain lining up teams against Miller for a few years now. In my dealings with him he has always been an honest player, stand up guy as captain, friendly, and above board. All I can say is "well played Mouser" in getting these guys all computer 4.5 rated. I sure would like to see that Miller/Benzon showdown. If I can make it, you know I will. Who's gonna bring the popcorn? It will be a freaking war!

Regarding Eric White and blaming Miller, if you actually look it was Vogl who had White self-rate, granted he lied, but for you Houstonites it is par for the course, so pot meet kettle (Wanja, Locke, Broach, Morgan, etc....)

New Ar Hacker needs to get his facts straight. Research those players more closely as well as looking into when self-rate forms came into existence and the fact that you don't have to fill them out when you enter a tournament.

please I know the facts clear enough and regardless of the self-rates going into play. Wanja was playing D1 tennis when he went into 4.5Broach had just finished playing at ACU when he went 4.5Morgan was a #1 Junior in Texas and played at SWTLocke just finished at NW.So in your feeble little mind these guys belonged on 4.5?

AR Hacker is right, but you left out Billy Heim, who self-rated 4.5 the same year he played D1 tennis for Lamar, in Beaumont. The problem is, the "guidelines" are too broad in some cases and too narrow in others, and are not uniformly enforced. In fact, I don't know ifUSTA considers their guidelines as the equivalent of enforceable rules. For example, a D3 player under age 36 is a 4.5, according to USTA, but there are lots of these guys that are 4.0, or even lower. On the other hand, many are higher, although the majority are probably 4.5. The guidelines are just too broad to be nationally enforceable, in my opinion, and maybe that's why they aren't enforced everywhere. USTA should clarify just how much authority these guidelines have, so we will all know. Are they just "suggestions" with no enforceability? Tell us please. And they need to revisit these, because there are so many exceptions that they may not be enforceable on that basis alone.

I think more grievances would be filed if the protests were anonymous to the offending captain. The name of the captain who is protesting should be known to Sectional Office, but from there it is anonymous. I hate walking around with a bullseye on my back for forcing others to play by the rules all for a stupid towel or pen set or whatever USTA gets their best deal on for a national award.

Looking at Thomas Daniels record he should be a 4.5? His losses to Trent Broach prove that he's not a 5.5. I hear the San Antonio open team is looking for players. Thomas should try out. Judging from his record in 5.5 league he should just stay home.

Did chance Morgan get his self rating in Houston? (He got his self rating in mxd in corpus christi)

Did Billy Heim get his self rating in Houston?(He got his self rating playing in Louisiana for a team there.)

I give you credit for Broach and Lock, but shouldn't the Captain who self rated them be punished? Who was that?

As for Wanja you really need to get your facts straight before opening your mouth again. Wanja generated a tournament rating in 2004 and played in 2005 as a 4.5 tournament rated player.In 2004 Wanja played for Texas Lutheran a D3 school then transferred to Lamar in the Fall of 2005. He didn't illegally self rate that year and regardless of all your criticism you should take heed that you can be wrong like any one of us. It's okay. No matter what you post we'll still read it, but your starting to lose some of your credibility.

THE BEST OF 4.5 HOUSTONS TENNIS WAS HELD AT SUGAR CREEK TONIGHT AND IT WAS LIKE HOW IT SUPPOSED TO BE, COMPETITION AND GREAT FUN, THANKS TO ALL, ALAIN, MICHAEL, KEN AND FREEMAN FOR PUTTING IT TOGETHER AND TO ALL THEIR PLAYERS FOR COMING OUT.

Yes Greg, I almost laughed as hard as you did when I read that post. I really enjoyed the Gary Peyton comment but he had skills at one point so I don't think that is accurate. I'm thinking I'm more the Kyle Korver of this year's free agency. Just another slow white boy who sees the court very occasionally just to rest some others. However, if World Wide Wes can get me a hour long special where I can refer to myself in the third person - sign me up!

As far as Jason (AR Hacker), I find it hilarious when you say things like playing for a "stupid towel or pen set". I have been as obsessed as most about silly NTRP level tennis but you are obviously as competitive as anyone to spend time researching a whole state you don't even compete in anymore. So please don't patronize the rest of the people who spend a lot of time trying to win a stupid pen, it's a little ridiculous.

On another note, I think it is great when people protest because that keeps the league as legitimate as possible (although it will never be totally right).

Finally, Davis I would love to play for Austin Wild some day. Hawthorne talks about the great bunch of guys there. Plus, it would give people more ammunition to call me a "league whore".

No friction at Sugar Creek last night, just a lot of fun and good tennis. Ford, Jim and Ahmed did not come, but 20 other guys did. This is how tennis should be. You try and kick each other @sses during the summer season, then get together and enjoy some fun tennis afterward. Nice to see members from 4 different teams play together and get along.

Ok guys ... We are running 5 courts Sunday afternoon at 5:00 and 6:30 at Sugar Creek Country Club. Again on Tuesday at 7:00 and 8:30. The intent is for the Titans and Hurricanes 3 to get ready for sectionals (as well as Noho and any of Bobo's guys to join us).

This is an open invite for anyone thats interested and wants to come to join us. All the beer is on me! If you want to play (make sure u have a partner) ... call/text me at 281-705-7942 ... I'm sure I'll have a few extra spots ... I need some good singles guys as well.

Good luck to all the Texas teams. Whichever is the most physically/mentally fit to win in Arizona has all our support. It's been too long since the National Championship returned to the Lone Star State (2006, right?). Bring it back home, will you boys?

Did you protest the Valley guys too? Seems to me Kareem Abdullah and Crisanto Ramirez are a slam dunk for a D'Q. Abdullah played for UT Pan Am and Ramirez played for Trinity. don't you think it would be a good idea to protest them? Or do you just hate on Houston self rates? Since valley is in your flight it may be a good idea?

i'm confused. i thought a player was suppose to declare which team he is going to play for before the playoffs. Antoine Ford was registered for Noho and Titans. During the city playoffs, he was still playing matches for Noho. Is that breaking any USTA rules?

Ford declared for the Houston team, but that does not prevent him from playing regular season matches in NOHO. The NOHO matches are not championship level like the city playoffs. He cannot play for NOHO at Sectionals, but can play with NOHO if they make it to Nationals.

this whole system has collapsed. 5 years ago it used to be a 25yr olds and above now it is a race to the high schools to see we can find. Our state makes a mockery of the system. It is shame as many want to compete honestly.Yet people being added last minute and hiding just to play sectionals is unfortunate.

I guess the last poster has never been to a Nationals event. As big as Tx is the other sections like so cal,no cal, and southern push the system to the max. Say what you want, but Tx is below average in league.

Very true. As loaded as the Houston team last year that went to Nationals, they did not make it out of their pool. As more and more players come out of the woodwork, it will be up to the captains to help police them. That is how the current system works right now. Accept it and do your part to help it get better.

Greg, very dissapointed that I wasn't mentioned as one of the big guns for Abilene (obviously kidding)!

Can't wait to see some old friends in Dallas (Douds, John Day, etc)

Just wanted to give you guys a little scoop on the Bein issue.

We got him rated right at the end of the spring when he had not signed with ACU. At that time he was unsure whether he was going to play college tennis at all much less at a school as good as ACU. (He wanted to play with us because he has several friends on the team and my dad and his dad have known each other for years.)

After he signed with ACU we talked with an NTRP official (not Todd Reid or Tosha Smith) who assured us that this situation had been discussed and that he was cleared to play because we had rated him prior to his signing with ACU.

We are understanding of why he was DQ'd although we are dissapointed. But, that said, from what I've seen of him, I think he would have been a slightly above average 4.5 singles player and would've been happy to see him go .500 at sectionals; certainly not a ringer.

Good look to all the Houston teams and hopefully one of you (or us) will be representing Texas at Nationals again this year.

For all intents and purposes let's say that technically, NOHO is Freeman's official "Houston" team. I know nothing about Jason's 3.5 team this year, or at least there has been no talk of them and usually not mention of 3.5 on the Blog but I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on his chances of bringing home a hat trick (3.5, 4.0, 4.5)

Something occurred to me and maybe it's because I'm a bit slow when it comes to this league stuff, sandbagging, creating "Nationals-bound" teams, but another compelling reason to protest and get rid of these cheaters in the league who aren't honest on their Self Rate profiles is their results will directly affect your rating. If everyone's suspicions are correct and they are manipulating scores, do you want to get bumped up, or worse yet, be precluded from getting bumped down because they have played a "competitive" match against you while along they deliberately lost 4-5 games against you. So, please folks, if you know of someone who is not legitimate, please let's protest them. Furthermore, whenever we see a new name in the league let's do a little investigation on our own. It only takes 2 minutes to do a google search on someone. There is also collegetennisonline.

Smitty - Understand that he was self-rated prior to signing w/ ACU and not a blatant disregard for the self-rating guidelines.

Very much disagree about his ringer status. Austin Tennis was up in arms when a junior named Robin Chou showed up on a roster. Kid was quickly removed/DQ'd because he was top 30 in the state. Your Eric Bein beat this kid.

Last year Freeman was within a couple of points of pulling off a trifecta.This year he will be a long way from winning any sectionals titles. Dallas in 3.5's, Lubbock in 4.0's,San Antonio in 4.5's. Too bad Houston.

HEADS UP. For those in the San Antonio Wild Card bracket be on alert. Torres MUST bring his Fall Team which has no depth. Torres tanked in the spring playoffs showing up with only 3 lines and he defaulted after playing 1 point so his team could get the the Wild Card and stay away from NOHO. Only it back fired because he has to bring his Fall team which is WEAK. He has been trying to persuade everyone to let him bring his spring team but he has been denied. If you play his team make sure you know the rosters because he will try to slide them in I'm sure. Great move Torres.

Abilene is being overlooked but they'll be starting every match with a guaranteed 1-0 lead. Erich Bein will not lose to anyone, period. He won't even lose a set. I've been playing Robin Chou for years and now Robin doesn't have much trouble with me, so anyone with a win over Robin isn't going to be tested in Dallas. If Bein can play 4.5 via some loophole in the ratings, then I expect to see a lot of 18 year olds ranked outside the top 20 on 4.5 rosters next year and every year thereafter until they close the loophole. Sectionals will turn into another Boys 18 Superchamps tourney sprinkled with a couple of old hackers puttering around at #3 doubles.

Where is everyone? 3 days til sectionals and the blog is a ghost town. Looks like Dallas is leading the poll right now. I guess their depth has put them on top. Noho looks like they kept their self rates. Is it enough to compete with San Antonio though? I'm sure Team Miller can't wait to be the spoiler. Can Houston compete with Austin Wild? Is the Fort Worth team the sleeper team in bracket 1? Which team is really a sleeper team? Valley? Abilene? Lubbock? Amarillo?Waco?

Torres messed himself up. He tanked thinking he could get his spring team in and avoid NOHO. Well he avoided NOHO but found out only his fall team would qualify. He then asked if he could turn that invite down and then get the invite back for his Spring team to go. It is going to be triple digits and he has no depth especially on that fall team. It is so funny to see him screw his teams chances like that. Truth is his team would have lost regardless. It really would not have mattered. Every time Miller played him this year he never came with his best team.

So if Torres wins the match against Miller then his Spring team advances as San Antonio and Miller's Spring team goes as Wild. If Miller wins his Spring team goes as San Antonio and Torres Spring team stays home. That doesn't make any sense. I don't care how much you dislike Torres, how is that fair?

Torres gets penalized for winning the Fall. How come Miller's Spring team advances whether or not they are 1st or 2nd?

FAIR and Torres don't go together brother. Have you ever heard what comes around goes around. San Antonio as a whole does not like him and what he is about. He deserves everything he gets. He will get no love in SA. You are suspect 6:05. How do you like them apples.

ahh it is nice to see captains not scared to protest. Completely missed Juan Saiz, guess tanking does not payoff. Wow little surprised Aston got bumped to 5.5, figured maybe 5.0 but thanks to the captains showing some balls.

9:50 pm Isn't that a tad bit harsh? Hope he dies on his way to Dallas? WTF is wrong with you? If league tennis is that big of a deal to you then you need to get an effing life. NOHO would have beaten Valley 4-1 anyway.

Wow now is this not quite the irony, of the biggest Rule-benders is possibly responsible for getting other players DQ'ed? So again how is Femi Thomas still a 4.5 when his bio admits he played US Open Jrs, meaning he must have been a Top 100 Junior in the world.

Torres protested Allinson from Waco. He is delusional if he thinks that they would even make it out of their bracket and face Waco on Sunday. They are stuck with their Fall lineup and dont have a chance.

League tennis is getting way too serious. Why play if you cant play within the guidelines. To my knowledge miller protested noho guys which he had every right to do. He lost his grievance and he's moved on. Every player who self rates is subject to inquiry.

its funny to see the valley actually in conversation...historically the valley has never done anything in sectionals at any level...so for their players to be protested, either someone was really scared of the team and thought they might lose to them or they were just doing it just for the hell of it knowing they would beat valley with or without their "ringers"

Torres/Muniz/Cambon how the hell are you going to get someone appealed that you beat in doubles at the waco open. You dumbass's hope yall don't even make it out of your flight !! What the hell is with all this getting people dq'd if yall aren't good enough to win, then don't play. IF you can't get good players then that is your fault !

The Valley won sectionals in 2004 at 4.5. If you look at the players that got disqualified you will see that they would scare anyone in the 4.5 field. Sorry to say, but there is no in between in league tennis.

It just kills me to see Waco and the Valley, two of the sham leagues that get a free pass to Dallas by playing a couple of matches or pro sets just before Sectionals against straw teams, complaining about DQ's. It's not enough that you can skirt better yet make up your own rules to get to Dallas every year, you have to resort to further shenanigans, and cry like a baby when you are caught. This is awesome!

In the beginning of this thread all the info was given for all the players who were supposedly illegal self rates. AR Hacker acknowledged who he thought were for sure dq's. Every single captain who was coming to sectionals has a right to make sure that each player is within the self rating guidelines. For these teams who have been playing like SA and Dallas to play all these illegal self rates,it would have been unfair to them to play these out of level players.

Benzon/Freeman/Dwyer are a bunch of crooks. I'm captain/co-captain and I stand by my roster bs. Femi played US Open and he's not DQed. Those captains are a bunch of chicken sh!t because they'll protest because they don't want any competition. They want all the rings on their team and members not on their team too. Make sure you card all their players.

You can please some of the people some of the time, but not all the people all of the time. The USTA is unable to police all the self-rates that keep scores interesting, so it's up to captains to keep the leagues' playing levels somewhat equitable. If players make it through protests (see Femi), then let it go. If a player gets dq'ed, then let it go. It's done.

Captains, show a little intelligence when creating your team. If players are suspect (possibly playing out-of-level according to USTA guidelines), expect them to be protested. If they get dq'ed, deal with it -- if they don't, more power to you.

Those who go into Sectionals with power self-rates should expect one or more of these players to be protested. It happens every year. Move on...

femi:Femi joined our staff in July of 2004. Former Assistant Professional at Piney Point Racquet Club. Has worked with other clubs and USTA Programs over the last 3 years. PTR Certification. Femi was one of the top ranked juniors in his age group in Nigeria , representing his country in the US Jr. Open and Junior Davis Cup Competition. Femi competed in professional satellites & professional futures tournaments.

the only problem i have with all these dq's is the timing....the groups were made weeks ago and everyone knew who was going to play who so why bring up the protests now, such great timing, it should have been done weeks ago to give the teams with protested players time to regroup and also give the players who got dq'd a heads up so they wouldn't have to re-arrange their lives for tennis...these players im sure already made arrangements to go, had to ask for time off from work and their families, etc etc..these players aren't kids, they are grown men with professional careers and families..to have their plans changed a couple of days before I feel is wrong, even though the DQ's are justified and the rules are rules, I think the protests should be done in a timely manner